She was determined to make a fight about it, and Kirk had no time right then. "All right," he said. "I guess you'll be safe enough with the Vinsons." He slammed the door after Garstang. "Get going." Garstang swore but he roared the ground car out in a cloud of dust and gravel. Kirk ran back into the house. Most of the feeling had come back in his side, and he could move pretty fast. The Earthman, Harper, was squirming around the floor trying to get free. Kirk gave him one ruthless blast with the sono-beam that would put him to sleep for a day or so. He could be dealt with later, when more important things were out of the way. Then he got on the phone and called Vinson. A sleepy voice answered. "I was just going to bed. What do you want?" "When you have an emergency around here," said Kirk, "what do you do to get help in a hurry?" Vinson's voice waked up. "Why, I phone around fast. The boys turn out quick for fire, flood or whatever. Hey, you got a fire, Commander?" "Worse," said Kirk. "Do your people have guns of some kind?" "Sure, nearly every farm has a hunting-shocker. But--" "Tell 'em to come armed, and come fast. Your place. My wife and I are coming now." "Say Commander, is this a joke or what?" "It's the unfunniest joke ever to hit Earth," Kirk said grimly. "Call them!" He slammed the phone down, grabbed Lyllin by the hand, and lit out, full tilt down the path and into the moonlit road. * * * * * By the time they reached Vinson's house, all the lights were on and Vinson himself was standing in the road, waiting for them. "I hope you know what you're doing," he said to Kirk worriedly. "The boys don't like getting hauled out for nothing. What's up?" Kirk told him, rapidly, between gasps, as he helped Lyllin up on the porch. Mrs. Vinson, a pleasant-looking dark-haired woman in a pink robe, cried out from the doorway and took Lyllin's hand to welcome her in. "What on earth is going on?" she demanded. "Why, you poor thing, he's run the legs off you! Come in, sit down--" Then she caught sight of Vinson's face. "What is it?" she asked quietly. "Tell me, so I'll know what to do." "There's going to be a fight," said Vinson, in a wondering, half-incredulous tone. "There's a war going to start, and the first fight is going to be right here, in Orville." "In the woods," said Kirk hastily, pointing. "You'll be quite safe here. And if we can take them by surprise, there won't even be a skirmish." "He says that the fate of Earth depends on us," said Vinson, still in that wondering tone. "Well. I'm damned. What do you know!"